Post by YL on Dec 27, 2023 11:39:24 GMT
Halifax is the largest town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, and is situated in a hilly area in the eastern foothills of the Pennines; the town centre is close to the Hebble, a tributary of the Calder, with the southern suburbs of the town approaching the latter river. Like many towns in West Yorkshire the woollen industry has been important here, with the Piece Hall, a cloth trading centre in the town centre, being a well known landmark. Halifax is also known for its former building society, and employment in financial services remains relatively high in the town.
The constituency, which contains the town together with a handful of neighbouring settlements, is not really a safe Labour seat, as they have sometimes held on narrowly, most notably in 2015 when the majority in Holly Lynch's first election was under 500, but nevertheless it has been held by Labour since 1987; it did vote Conservative in 1983 and previously in 1955 and 1959. In 2019 it did swing to the Conservatives, but their share of the vote fell and the swing was underwhelming, allowing Lynch to hold on relatively comfortably. Overall it is quite a working class constituency, with quite high deprivation and education levels on the low side, but there is some variation. There are only minor boundary changes, which will make very little difference to its politics and demographics.
The town centre, just west of the Hebble, is part of the Town ward, which stretches across the Hebble in two different directions. To the north it includes the deprived Victorian suburb of Boothtown, while to the south-east it includes the Siddal area on the east bank but also extends up a hill to include the separate settlement of Southowram. Overall this is a deprived and largely working class ward, and it has consistently voted Labour, except that the BNP got one seat out of three in the 2004 all-up elections.
To the north of the town centre is another largely working class area with much council housing, covering Ovenden and Illingworth & Mixenden wards. These have generally high deprivation and low levels of educational qualifications, though the latter especially does have some less deprived and more owner occupied areas. Like much of West Yorkshire, Halifax is quite polarised ethnically, and this is a white area; areas like this sometimes had potential for the BNP at their height in the Noughties, and Illingworth & Mixenden did vote for BNP councillors in 2004, 2006 and 2008. Otherwise Illingworth & Mixenden has usually voted Labour, though there were some strong UKIP performances, and a single Conservative win in 2021, while Ovenden has consistently voted Labour, though has also had some strong BNP and UKIP performances.
The other side of the ethnic polarisation coin is in the Victorian residential areas to the west of the town centre; here we find the ward of Park, named after the Victorian People's Park, which is nearly 70% Muslim, the the most Muslim ward in Yorkshire outside Bradford. This is also a deprived working class area, and like many very Muslim areas it usually votes Labour, often by large majorities, but it can be a bit unpredictable, though it has only once on current boundaries voted for a non-Labour candidate, a Lib Dem in 2008. The high Muslim population extends into parts of the neighbouring Warley ward, which covers the outer western suburbs and extends out of the main urban area to include some small Pennine hamlets (the appropriately named Mount Tabor is over 300m above sea level); the more outlying areas are less Muslim. Warley ward is generally a bit less deprived and working class than Park, but it is below average on academic qualifications and on the most middle class occupations; it was once a Conservative stronghold, though that is a long time ago and it now reliably votes Lib Dem in local elections.
South of the town centre and towards the River Calder is a more middle class area, around Salterhebble, Skircoat Green and Savile Park. This forms Skircoat ward, the ward in Yorkshire with the highest level of employment in finance and insurance, and education levels and proportions in middle class occupations are well above average here. Skircoat ward is something of a poster child for "trends": it was once a Conservative stronghold, though capable of occasional Lib Dem votes, but it was won by Labour in 2018 and they have not looked back, now having all three councillors and having got over 60% of the vote in 2023. Part of the explanation for this may be demographic change: it is quite diverse and in particular there is a growing Muslim population.
To the west of Skircoat, past the striking folly of Wainhouse Tower, the urban area continues down the hill through the area of Pye Nest to Sowerby Bridge, a mill town on the Calder, which retains a separate identity from Halifax though the urban areas are contiguous. (Note "Sowerby" is generally pronounced "Sorby", though I've heard "Sour-by" as well.) This is the one area where boundary changes affect this constituency, adding areas adjacent to Sowerby Bridge currently in the Ryburn ward (which has been split, with most of it remaining in Calder Valley); these areas include Sowerby itself, which before 1983 actually gave its name to a constituency, and the curiously named hamlet of Triangle in the Ryburn valley. Sowerby Bridge ward, which includes Pye Nest as well as the core of Sowerby Bridge, is demographically mixed and has a history of being a Labour/Conservative marginal, though it has not chosen the Tories at local level since 2015; Ryburn ward is usually Conservative, though Sowerby and Triangle are probably not the most Conservative bits of it.
Finally, on the other side of Halifax is the ward of Northowram & Shelf, which as well as the two named areas, which are separate settlements from Halifax, includes the Claremount area of Halifax, adjoining Boothtown. This is a relatively prosperous area with low deprivation and high levels of owner occupation, though not particularly educated (considerably less so that Skircoat). It is traditionally a Conservative ward, but it is one of a number of areas across the country where the Greens have launched a challenge in local elections, taking one seat narrowly in 2022 and a second much more comfortably in 2023, meaning that in 2024 the Conservatives are in danger of being wiped out at local level within the current boundaries of this constituency. (The parts of Ryburn included will save them as far as the new constituency is concerned.) It will, however, presumably remain the most Conservative part of this constituency in a General Election.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Lab 21819 (45.6%)
Con 19917 (41.7%)
Brexit Party 2813 (5.9%)
Lib Dem 2302 (4.8%)
Green 946 (2.0%)
Lab majority 1902 (4.0%)
The constituency, which contains the town together with a handful of neighbouring settlements, is not really a safe Labour seat, as they have sometimes held on narrowly, most notably in 2015 when the majority in Holly Lynch's first election was under 500, but nevertheless it has been held by Labour since 1987; it did vote Conservative in 1983 and previously in 1955 and 1959. In 2019 it did swing to the Conservatives, but their share of the vote fell and the swing was underwhelming, allowing Lynch to hold on relatively comfortably. Overall it is quite a working class constituency, with quite high deprivation and education levels on the low side, but there is some variation. There are only minor boundary changes, which will make very little difference to its politics and demographics.
The town centre, just west of the Hebble, is part of the Town ward, which stretches across the Hebble in two different directions. To the north it includes the deprived Victorian suburb of Boothtown, while to the south-east it includes the Siddal area on the east bank but also extends up a hill to include the separate settlement of Southowram. Overall this is a deprived and largely working class ward, and it has consistently voted Labour, except that the BNP got one seat out of three in the 2004 all-up elections.
To the north of the town centre is another largely working class area with much council housing, covering Ovenden and Illingworth & Mixenden wards. These have generally high deprivation and low levels of educational qualifications, though the latter especially does have some less deprived and more owner occupied areas. Like much of West Yorkshire, Halifax is quite polarised ethnically, and this is a white area; areas like this sometimes had potential for the BNP at their height in the Noughties, and Illingworth & Mixenden did vote for BNP councillors in 2004, 2006 and 2008. Otherwise Illingworth & Mixenden has usually voted Labour, though there were some strong UKIP performances, and a single Conservative win in 2021, while Ovenden has consistently voted Labour, though has also had some strong BNP and UKIP performances.
The other side of the ethnic polarisation coin is in the Victorian residential areas to the west of the town centre; here we find the ward of Park, named after the Victorian People's Park, which is nearly 70% Muslim, the the most Muslim ward in Yorkshire outside Bradford. This is also a deprived working class area, and like many very Muslim areas it usually votes Labour, often by large majorities, but it can be a bit unpredictable, though it has only once on current boundaries voted for a non-Labour candidate, a Lib Dem in 2008. The high Muslim population extends into parts of the neighbouring Warley ward, which covers the outer western suburbs and extends out of the main urban area to include some small Pennine hamlets (the appropriately named Mount Tabor is over 300m above sea level); the more outlying areas are less Muslim. Warley ward is generally a bit less deprived and working class than Park, but it is below average on academic qualifications and on the most middle class occupations; it was once a Conservative stronghold, though that is a long time ago and it now reliably votes Lib Dem in local elections.
South of the town centre and towards the River Calder is a more middle class area, around Salterhebble, Skircoat Green and Savile Park. This forms Skircoat ward, the ward in Yorkshire with the highest level of employment in finance and insurance, and education levels and proportions in middle class occupations are well above average here. Skircoat ward is something of a poster child for "trends": it was once a Conservative stronghold, though capable of occasional Lib Dem votes, but it was won by Labour in 2018 and they have not looked back, now having all three councillors and having got over 60% of the vote in 2023. Part of the explanation for this may be demographic change: it is quite diverse and in particular there is a growing Muslim population.
To the west of Skircoat, past the striking folly of Wainhouse Tower, the urban area continues down the hill through the area of Pye Nest to Sowerby Bridge, a mill town on the Calder, which retains a separate identity from Halifax though the urban areas are contiguous. (Note "Sowerby" is generally pronounced "Sorby", though I've heard "Sour-by" as well.) This is the one area where boundary changes affect this constituency, adding areas adjacent to Sowerby Bridge currently in the Ryburn ward (which has been split, with most of it remaining in Calder Valley); these areas include Sowerby itself, which before 1983 actually gave its name to a constituency, and the curiously named hamlet of Triangle in the Ryburn valley. Sowerby Bridge ward, which includes Pye Nest as well as the core of Sowerby Bridge, is demographically mixed and has a history of being a Labour/Conservative marginal, though it has not chosen the Tories at local level since 2015; Ryburn ward is usually Conservative, though Sowerby and Triangle are probably not the most Conservative bits of it.
Finally, on the other side of Halifax is the ward of Northowram & Shelf, which as well as the two named areas, which are separate settlements from Halifax, includes the Claremount area of Halifax, adjoining Boothtown. This is a relatively prosperous area with low deprivation and high levels of owner occupation, though not particularly educated (considerably less so that Skircoat). It is traditionally a Conservative ward, but it is one of a number of areas across the country where the Greens have launched a challenge in local elections, taking one seat narrowly in 2022 and a second much more comfortably in 2023, meaning that in 2024 the Conservatives are in danger of being wiped out at local level within the current boundaries of this constituency. (The parts of Ryburn included will save them as far as the new constituency is concerned.) It will, however, presumably remain the most Conservative part of this constituency in a General Election.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Lab 21819 (45.6%)
Con 19917 (41.7%)
Brexit Party 2813 (5.9%)
Lib Dem 2302 (4.8%)
Green 946 (2.0%)
Lab majority 1902 (4.0%)
